


My hands are cut but I still sail

by veivei



Category: Durarara!!
Genre: Angst, Dark, Fire Sandwich, Gambling, Hi there Kanra-chan, Implied/Referenced Rape/Non-con, M/M, Nightmare Fuel, Playing Shogi, Presumed Dead, Scary Yakuza, Yakuza
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2010-06-22
Updated: 2010-06-22
Packaged: 2018-10-29 12:48:48
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Underage
Chapters: 1
Words: 8,474
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/10854333
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/veivei/pseuds/veivei
Summary: "You're not as awesome as you make yourself out to be, Orihara-san. 'Oh, I've told these yakuza guys where the other fraction's leaders were at the time' and maybe got a bit of money out of that but also got a death sentence that was nearly carried out. You're not that much better than me," Aoba's voice softened to a near-whisper. "You've just tried to play with more deadly toys and ended up with them exploding in your hands. Frankly, that doesn't impress me at all."





	My hands are cut but I still sail

**Author's Note:**

  * Inspired by [Hard Surface](https://archiveofourown.org/works/10817337) by [orphan_account](https://archiveofourown.org/users/orphan_account/pseuds/orphan_account). 



> An old fic from the DRRR Kink Meme. Backdated.
> 
> Fragments of later parts of Hard Surface (that are otherwise not on AO3). Because gambler!Aoba.

The murmurs that erupted when Izaya entered the shrine didn't really bother him. He expected as much. A lot of people were there at Kida's funeral. It seemed his entire class from Raira tagged along with Mikado and Anri, as well as the little Blue Squares founder.

The body wasn't displayed. It was understandable considering its head had been severed and still wasn't found. The ceremony was nothing much. Most attendants only seemed vaguely shocked, though there was a woman in a black kimono in the first row who cried the entire time. It was probably Kida's mother.

She was the only person who followed when the body was taken away to be cremated.

The ceremony was over. Izaya turned around to leave.

"Wait, Orihara-san." Mikado approached him. "I need to talk to you." He sounded determined though the shadows under his eyes indicated he hadn't slept since he'd gotten to know about Kida's death. "I want you to tell me everything you know about who did it to him. I don't have money to pay you but I need to know. Please." Mikado bowed.

"I don't sell information anymore." Izaya shrugged. "What is it you want me to tell you? I've had a run-in with the yakuza myself. It seems he got it worse."

"Which faction?"

"I admire your resolve, Ryuugamine-kun, but don't bother. You and your street gangs are only allowed to exist for as long as you don't get in their way."

"I can't let it go. He was my best friend. He's never done anything wrong. And now..."

Izaya would have argued with Kida never having done anything wrong.

"Beheadment is a quick and painless death. What's left might look grotesque but he didn't suffer much." Most likely, he was more scared back when he'd been buried.

"That's not the point. He's dead. Why is he dead?!"

"Calm down, Mikado-senpai." Aoba approached them and patted Mikado on the back reassuringly. "You're way too polite towards this man. After all, it's his fault Kida-senpai was murdered."

\---

Celty got off her motorcycle. She'd been riding with the package under her arm and that made her think of the old times back when she'd used to travel around Ireland with her head under her arm as the Death's messenger.

She entered the shrine grounds. She was passing by boys and girls in black clothing on their way out, their eyes downcast and their voices hushed.

The funeral ceremony seemed to have been over. Izaya was standing in front of the shrine, his long black coat billowing in the wind. Mikado and some other boy she remembered seeing around were talking to him.

"It's his fault Kida-senpai was murdered."

"Your conclusions are quite far-fetched, Kuronuma-kun."

Celty walked up towards them, the package under her arm feeling all too familiar. It had been so long since she had felt complete like that. Something dark and twisted was waking up inside her. Was it her true nature? She wanted to keep that package. And for that reason alone she needed to hand it over as soon as possible.

She held out the package in both hands and extended her arms towards Izaya. The cloth the container had been wrapped in slid off and the wind carried it away.

Izaya's eyes widened. Aoba stopped talking mid-word. Mikado bent over as if he'd been punched in the gut and vomited on the ground.

Celty was holding a container akin to the one housing her own head, hidden back at Izaya's apartment. Kida's head was inside. His face didn't look peaceful though and his eyes were wide open with fear.

They all turned around to look at the source of the inhuman shriek that resounded from the entrance of the shrine. Kida's mother's body rolled off the steps leading up to it, unconscious.

"Were you asked to deliver this to me?" Izaya braced himself and asked.

Celty nodded.

"Can you take it from her?" Izaya addressed Aoba. "She doesn't talk. She needs her hands to be able to type."

Aoba eyed Izaya's crutches hesitantly before taking the container from Celty. It was surprisingly heavy. Most likely because of the liquid inside.

Celty took out her smartphone.

" _I ought to let you know who has asked me to deliver this to you._ " She typed. " _It was Yagiri Namie. She asked me to pass over this message:_ "

Several monks ran out from the shrine, alarmed. Aoba looked at Izaya questioningly, holding the container closer to his chest. Mikado was still dry-heaving.

_'Enjoy your new pet head. I needed the other one more than you.'_

"Fucking bitch." Izaya whispered, taking out his own phone. The security of his apartment block wasn't answering...

Celty's punch took him by surprise. It was impossibly strong for a woman of her build. He fell back on the ground, his head narrowly missing hitting the pavement.

" _That's for not telling me you've had my head all this time._ " Celty's smartphone was shoved into his face. She hauled Izaya back up with one arm and punched him again with the other, knocking the wind out of him. " _That's for whatever you did to that boy to make him end up like this._ " She typed and showed him before letting him drop to the ground.

" _Mikado-kun, I'm sorry._ " She grabbed Mikado's shoulders and forced him to straighten up before showing him that message.

"Uhm... Orihara-san, what should I do with this?" Aoba asked, motioning with his head towards the monks approaching them now that they had helped Kida's mother back into the shrine.

Realizing he wasn't going to be able to get up on his own anyway, Izaya laid back down on the ground and closed his eyes. He couldn't even begin to comprehend in how many ways everything went all wrong.

"It should probably be cremated with the rest of his body." Mikado spoke up with sudden calm, taking the container from Aoba and going to the monks to explain the situation.

"Call the police first." Izaya spoke up without opening his eyes. "They're still searching for it."

Aoba approached him and held out his hand towards him.

Izaya accepted it hesitantly.

"There's something strangely captivating about seeing you fall, Orihara-san." He said with a smile, helping him up.

\---

Aoba smiled, pointing the gun at the back of Izaya's head.

" _We've been following him as per our orders. He's left the police headquarters around 9 PM. The police escort of four men in two groups followed him. We trailed them._ "

They were standing at the edge of the roof of a skyscraper. One of the Shinjuku favorites of those who wanted to die. Back when Izaya had been pursuing his past hobby of associating himself with these people, he used to come here to watch them leap down.

" _He didn't really seem to have a destination in mind. It seemed as if he was just wandering around. The Blue Squares kind of just started appearing. It wasn't initially obvious they were after him. The cops didn't react either. Or so we thought. We've lost sight of two of them for a few minutes in the crowd and then they were no longer there._ "

Mikado was observing them from the other side of the guardrail, surrounded by some Blue Squares members.

" _Things were getting out of hand. But there was nothing we could do. It was Saturday night in Shinjuku, the street was packed. The kids from Blue Squares came in swarms. The other part of the police escort disappeared too. It was then that we contacted the junior division's leader by phone. He said we shouldn't act. So when we realized what the Blue Squares were doing was maneuvering Orihara into a building, we took observatory positions around it._ "

"I've told you once already I liked seeing you fall, Orihara-san." Aoba remarked.

" _They've seized him after some struggle. A few got cuts before they managed to take his knife away. Possibly something fatal because they called an ambulance. The commotion only got worse once it arrived. We couldn't enter that building with so many of these kids around. And then I had that hunch. The rooftop, I thought. Whatever they meant to do, the rooftop was the only logical place. So I ran to the building across the street. I knew there was a cafe on the last floor so I got that far easily. The rooftop there was off limits, but I managed to go out onto a balcony on the last floor. I managed to locate Orihara again with the binoculars. They've brought him to the rooftop indeed. One of them held a gun to his head. For all I know, they've forced him to jump. I've seen him walk off the edge. For me that's proof enough he's dead._ "

So that was how it felt, Izaya thought, the air whizzing in his ears.

" _You don't have his body to prove that._ "

" _I've seen it down there from up close though._ " The other yakuza spoke up. " _I stayed close to the entrance but when I got the call that he'd jumped I ran to the back alley instantly. Some Blue Squares were there before me but it was mere seconds. There was a dead body there definitely. The police appeared right after. Either his escort managed to alert them or the Blue Squares had called them themselves before he actually jumped._ "

Aoba climbed back through the guardrail. He pointed the toy gun at Mikado and laughed.

"Cut it out." Mikado grumbled.

The police released the news of Orihara Izaya's suicide the next morning. It didn't stop the rumors that it was the Blue Squares' doing in fact from spreading like wildfire. Were the Blue Squares now associated with the yakuza, people wondered. Or, on the contrary, had they challenged it by snatching its prey away?

"This is a new beginning for Blue Squares." Aoba said, never stopping to smile. "Just like you wanted as our leader, Mikado-senpai."

\---

Izaya's funeral was a sad little ceremony, more like a sorry excuse for a funeral than an actual one. Shinra took it upon himself to organize it. He sent out the invitations to as many people as he could think of but, just as he had expected, nobody showed up.

Izaya's sisters were still abroad and it was not safe for them to return. Shinra told Celty to stay home himself to avoid any commotion that might have happened if some reporters were going to be present for whatever reason.

So it was just him and Shizuo in the end. Izaya had his followers but Shinra was only vaguely aware of their existence, he had no means to contact these people.

He was glad Shizuo had agreed to come, at least.

The ceremony itself was awkward. The secular rites seemed ill-suited to the situation and barely practiced. Apparently, there weren't that many people who were ready to face death with no support from any religion.

Shinra decided he never wanted a funeral like this for himself.

He wondered if Izaya had given it any thought before taking his own life. Him killing himself was on one hand very strange and on the other very fitting. Not to mention the things that had happened in his life lately were probably enough to make anyone consider that option.

Years before, Izaya had confided in Shinra what he'd like written on his tombstone, however weird of an idea that was. Now Shinra could honor his wish.

" _Erite ultores._ " Shizuo read aloud on the tombstone after Izaya had been buried. "Is this latin? What does it even mean?" He scowled being reminded yet again of Izaya's intellectual superiority.

"Something like 'head towards immortality'."

"That doesn't make sense."

"Maybe for Izaya it did. What's wrong?" Shinra asked noting the expression on Shizuo's face. All of a sudden, he looked as if he was in pain. "After all those years trying to kill him, you don't like him being dead at all, do you?"

"He was mine. I was supposed to kill him. If I wanted to."

Shinra sighed.

"Not like you can beat up Death for taking him away. Let's go get a drink. It's all we can do for him now."

\---

"Don't you think it's somewhat peculiar for you to be answering your phone after your death?" The police detective spoke softly into the phone.

"I've been waiting for you to call me."

"Well... It seems it's time to say goodbye. I've enjoyed your stay here in the police. Out in the open you're a riddle again. I don't like that you've started over with a crime, though."

"Being falsely proclaimed dead isn't a crime, for all I know."

"No, it's more like an inconvenience. But to pull off that beautiful show you've hurled someone down a skyscraper. It doesn't sit well with me that I testified it was your body down there. True I needed the money but my conscience now..."

"I haven't hurled anyone down. He wanted to kill himself that day anyway. At least his death served some purpose. You can think of it as mere coincidence." Izaya remarked light-heartedly.

"Engineering coincidences. Isn't this your favorite past time?"

Izaya laughed.

"You could say that." He agreed. "Goodbye, then. Too bad you didn't care to come to my funeral. I heard it had been a lovely little ceremony."

"A cop who would've laughed at the idiocy of it all would have probably ruined it then. Don't cause trouble, Orihara. We'll get you if you do." He ended the call with that.

\---

"I'd refrain from witty commentary if I were you, Aoba-kun. Unless you want me to stab you." Izaya spoke calmly, applying eyeliner on himself in a way that indicated quite a lot of practice.

It'd been a week since his staged-up forced suicide. He was still alive but life was a bitch. Nightmares were back full force and he could feel Kida hovering over his shoulder at times. His leg, freshly taken out of plaster, hurt badly at all times of night and day and the skin on it looked all kinds of awful. His false papers only came in today. The apartment he was staying in was a ditch but that was the extent of what could be rented without raising suspicions and was shady enough to have neighbors that didn't care.

He had Blue Squares and Dollars combined and his own net of informants at his fingertips, though, or so he believed, and that was sweetening the deal a lot.

Aoba listened to his advice and stopped talking but he was still staring at him with incessant curiosity.

"You want something?" Izaya asked him in the end.

"I wonder for what reason a man like you learned to put on make-up." He said, tilting his head sideways. The cheerful smile that adorned his face at all times grated on Izaya's nerves. "I also wonder what it means for me if the reason for that was somewhat unprofessional and also what Mikado-senpai meant by telling me to spend time with a man like that. Not to mention Kida-senpai and your so-called love towards him."

"We're not spending time. You're running my errands."

"I'm still a little bit afraid, though. What if you really stab me?" Aoba grimaced. "Nobody will help me. How come I was stabbed by a guy whom I've already killed, after all. What if you do other kinds of things to me?"

Izaya ignored him, checked something in his phone and headed to the door.

"Where are we going?" Aoba hurried after him.

"You can go do your homework. I have a business to run." Izaya dismissed him before locking the apartment's door and heading downstairs and outside towards an inconspicuous black van he'd bought for himself.

Aoba was still smiling at him and waving as he drove away.

He was infuriating in that he thought he had the skill and the guts to be like him, Izaya thought. Proving him wrong wasn't something he should have been concerning himself with, though.

\---

"Why has a gang from Yokohama targeted you, a Shinjuku information broker, I wonder? And forgive me for asking but how come you've got out of that alive?" Aoba asked with a polite smile that didn't go well with that specific question at all.

Mikado was mostly silent by Aoba's side, occasionally glancing at his phone. Whenever his wandering gaze met Izaya's eyes, his cheeks were turning slightly pink.

Izaya was chopping up his cake into tiny pieces with his fork, not even looking at what he was doing. Mikado blushed a darker shade of red when he noticed his nails were painted dark blue.

"Shinjuku information broker was a bit outdated as a label for what I did at that point." Izaya admitted nonchalantly. "I've been expanding. I've sold the youth division of their rival gang in Yokohama the layout of their headquarters and they went there and killed all of their leaders." Izaya explained as if it was nothing unusual. "The leader of that youth division happened to be oyabun's illegitimate son so they couldn't pursue him. So they went after me instead. Also, obviously someone on that end leaked the information that I'd been the original informant. I've looked into this while I've been working for the police so these are not rumors. I've stolen the acts of all of those men who got arrested for ambushing me. Most of them lived in Yokohama. It's a fact that our very own Awakusu-kai wanted me dead at that time as well, though. I have a feeling it's been a collaboration. Since these factions operate quite far apart their interests don't clash so it's possible they've teamed up to hunt me down. As for your other question: Heiwajima Shizuo rescued me."

"Well, that's interesting. The word on the streets is that he doesn't like you very much."

"I have my means to make him do what I want."

"Certainly." Aoba nodded with an ever-present smile. "Do they involve spreading your legs?"

"Kuronuma-kun..." Mikado whispered weakly, having choked on his tea.

"What's wrong, Mikado-senpai?" Aoba hit Mikado on his back several times. "All of us here know he's been in a relationship with Kida-senpai, after all. And he dresses in drag, that can't be a good sign."

"Is what you mean to do facing the yakuza or making middle school-level jokes?"

"Please continue, Kanra-san." Mikado spoke up seriously.

"Kida's head has been delivered by Celty and the one who has given it to her was Yagiri Namie. The container it came in indicates it must have been taken to former Yagiri Pharmaceuticals after his death which is now a part of Nebula Corporation. This organization has a lot of ties. The rest of Kida's body has been found in Ueno. It isn't known yet where the murder took place even though there's a video of it. It's a run of the mill warehouse, could be anywhere. The video has been left at my apartment by someone connected to Nebula, though."

"Half of this city seems to consist of your enemies." Aoba pointed out. "Kida-senpai's taste in men seems to have been such a disaster." He sighed.

"Do you have a plan, Kanra-san?" Mikado asked.

"I do. But first we need to stop Heiwajima Shizuo from destroying this gang."

"But isn't he targeting us because he's heard we'd made you die?" Aoba asked with another pained sigh.

"I'll bring him over to our side."

"Will it involve...?"

"Kuronuma-kun, are you alive?!" Mikado shouted, seeing the blood seeping from Aoba's neck. He looked up at Izaya leaving the cafe uncertainly before hurrying back to Aoba's side.

It was just a scratch. Aoba pressed a napkin to the front of his neck. It was a bit scary how he hadn't seen it coming at all, though.

\---

Why was he dreaming of the one time when Kida had been on top, he wondered. True it felt nice. If the whole ordeal wasn't laced with flashbacks, it would have probably qualified as one of the best sexual intercourses of his life. Just like in life in general, Kida performed in bed to impress others more so than to please himself.

There was no point reminiscing about that, though. In the end, it was Izaya's own decision to lead him to his death. The consequences, like his dark empty apartment, were likewise his to bear, he thought looking down at the unfamiliar empty street through the window.

He took a deep drag from his cigarette. Humans were not irreplaceable, though. There were still others to play with. He reached for his phone and flicked through the phone book.

\---

"Hi! Here. I've brought some take-out." Aoba entered Izaya's apartment as if it was his own and headed right to the kitchen "You can't be bothered to buy your own food, can you, Orihara-san?" He asked cheerfully, opening the fridge only to find it empty.

"How's your neck?"

"Fine. Thank you for your concern." Aoba turned to face Izaya and bowed down with a smile that looked totally honest. The cut on his neck was bandaged in a way that made him look as if someone had tried to severe his head.

"I thought you wouldn't come here in the middle of the night after that." Izaya noted.

"How could I have turned down an offer to spend time with my senpai?" Aoba asked with feigned offense. "Were you feeling lonely, Orihara-san? I'm honored you've thought about me at such a tender moment."

"Who do you imagine you are?" Izaya asked. He approached with all the grace of a prowling panther even though he was still limping quite badly.

Aoba took a step back. True to his lithe frame and childish looks, he wasn't much of a fighter despite being in a gang. He was aware that if Izaya wanted to hurt him physically, he was probably more than capable of doing just that.

That was not going to happen though, he thought. Orihara Izaya was a man who tormented his victims in much more subtle ways than beating them up, after all.

"Do you remember that challenge of yours?" Izaya asked him, coming all close and forcing him to look up to maintain eye contact. His eyes were the color of stale blood.

"Ah, of course. If I've known all it took to wrap Mikado-senpai around one's finger was to dress up to look like a girl, I would've done it ages ago."

"You're a funny little boy. All you have is this so-called gang and a sharp tongue, and yet you think you can challenge Orihara Izaya..."

"...Who needs said gang's help to achieve whatever it is he wants and my sharp tongue to amuse him during lonely nights." Aoba's smile twisted in some inexplicable way. "You're not as awesome as you make yourself out to be, Orihara-san. 'Oh, I've told these yakuza guys where the other fraction's leaders were at the time' and maybe got a bit of money out of that but also got a death sentence that was nearly carried out. You're not that much better than me." Aoba's voice softened to a near-whisper. "You've just tried to play with more deadly toys and ended up with them exploding in your hands. Frankly, that doesn't impress me at all."

"Why are you letting me take over control then?"

"It's Mikado-senpai's decision. He's the boss round these parts, in case you haven't realized yet." He explained, his smile not faltering even for a second. "We have an agreement, me and him. And for the time, I follow his lead even though I may disagree with Blue Squares being forced to concern themselves with the death of the ex-leader of the late Yellow Scarves. As for you though, I think you're an interesting asset to have, Orihara-san." His smile twisted further into something unsettling. "Especially broken like that."

Half-expecting a punch, Aoba braced himself for the pain.

That never came. Instead, all of a sudden he had a tongue down his throat. It didn't feel nice at all. He didn't bother to close his eyes. It lasted for a while, then Izaya let him go.

"I knew you were going to do that. Sooner of later." He smiled knowingly. "Am I going to be the next Masaomi-kun? I've caught your attention so you'll play with me for a while and then have me killed? Sorry, Orihara-san, that doesn't impress me either. And learn to kiss properly because your sisters kiss better than that. Can I make some tea? I have like that... bad aftertaste now." He ducked under Izaya's arm and took the tea out of the cupboard. "I'm so lucky." He smiled to himself. "I've been kissed by all Orihara siblings now. Is this a good omen or a bad one?"

"Which one of us did you like the best then?"

"Kururi-chan." He replied cheerfully. "She'd been in my class before you spoiled everything and I really liked her breasts. They were the one thing that impressed me."

\---

"This is it? Frankly, I've never seen him from up close before but he doesn't look like much." Aoba looked disappointed, surveying Shizuo's somewhat slim frame on the bed. For a man who was supposed to haul street signs and vending machines around, he was unbelievably small. Also, he looked somewhat childish while asleep, the blond hair reinforcing that effect.

So that was the man who had single-handedly posed a problem for Blue Squares. It didn't sit well with Aoba at all. He didn't like the fact that Izaya suceeded at bringing him over to their side with such ease, either. It showed his skill. And whatever was the nature of it, Aoba didn't like the fact that he didn't have it.

"Please, go on. Make him angry, see for yourself and die already." Izaya encouraged him.

"You're so cruel, Orihara-san." Aoba sighed before resuming to smile. "So calling me first thing in the morning and telling me to come here was a trap to have me killed? And here I thought all you wanted was to impress me with having Heiwajima Shizuo do what you want. And since you've never answered my original question: how do you make him do what you want?" Aoba looked daring, mirth sparkling in his eyes. "No, let's make it more specific. Did he fuck you yesterday?"

"How much are you willing to pay for that information?" Izaya asked in a perfectly neutral voice.

Aoba's smile widened. Other people rarely played along with his constant assault of mind games.

"Let's see." Aoba looked inside his pockets and came up with a 1000 yen banknote.

Izaya didn't look impressed.

"I'm a high-schooler, Orihara-san. What kind of money do you expect me to have?"

"Your answer is no." Izaya took the banknote from him in the end and put it into his own wallet. "Contrary to what you seem to believe, Aoba-kun, it's not easy to get into my pants."

"I thought I nearly did that a few days ago. And I wasn't even trying." Aoba pointed out with a self-assured smile.

A mumble from Shizuo got their attention.

"I'll be going, Aoba-kun. Introduce him to the accomodations and the gang. And try to avoid property damage if possible."

Izaya smiled at him. It was the kind of smile that made Aoba's blood run cold.

\---

"There are many humans around to play with. Some of them are quite interesting."

"Then go play with them." Shizuo lit up another cigarette.

"Sure." Izaya took out his phone and dialed Aoba's number. "...Which hospital?... Of course I want to see it." He said with a smile. "You've broken his arm, Shizu-chan?" He asked gleefully.

Shizuo shrugged.

Izaya laughed.

"Thanks." He kissed Shizuo on the cheek before hurrying to leave. "You're going home?" He asked from the doorway. "Or do you want to stay?"

"I'll stay."

"See you later, then."

\---

"What are you laughing at?" Aoba asked, for once not sounding very cheerful. "We're accomplices. You shouldn't be happy about me getting injured." He cradled his arm, encased in a plaster from wrist to arm pit, closer to his chest.

In how many places had Shizuo broken it exactly, Izaya wondered. The uncultured brute and a weaker and less talented little version of himself that couldn't stop his tongue from saying aggravating things. All over again. How fucking cute.

"Can I have a smoke?" Aoba asked. "I feel miserable. I think I'll try to emulate your ways of coping with this feeling." He coughed for a bit after the first puff. "It seems every significant expansion to Blue Squares ends in my injury. I can't say that I enjoy that."

"When I was your age, he broke my arm, too." Izaya admitted.

"That's very touching, senpai. Was he fun tonight? After taking out his aggression on me he was probably nice to you." Aoba's smile was still a bit uncertain but it was coming back.

"I owe you for making this happen to you. Come on." Izaya threw him his coat.

"Come on where? I'm getting out of the hospital in the morning."

"It's just a broken arm." Izaya shrugged. "You can get out already."

"I'm afraid this isn't a question of if I can, but of if I should. What are you thinking now, Orihara-san?" Aoba's eyes bored into his questioningly. "Where do you mean to take me? Won't he be jealous because of that? I don't want to die on the morning after. It's not worth it."

"He said I can play with whomever I want. And I'm not his property anyway."

"I don't think this will feel nice." Aoba sighed. "But I want to see what you have in mind." He said before slipping his coat on.

\---

He was really the worst. And despite what Shizuo might have hoped for, he hadn't really changed. If anything, he developed some kind of mental instability to complement all the other things that had been wrong with him since forever.

Shizuo was woken up hours later by the rising sun. He sat up.

Izaya was sitting behind his desk, hunched over a laptop and typing at a brisk pace.

"Hi, Shizu-chan." He greeted him without looking up from the screen.

Looking for his cigarettes Shizuo discovered there was someone else lying on the couch with him. Fuck. What was Izaya doing while he was asleep? And why hadn't it woken him up?

Shizuo looked over Aoba's smallish frame and the plaster on his arm. There was more of it than he'd expected.

"What have you done to him?" He asked in a voice that sounded quite sinister.

"Nothing he didn't ask for." Izaya smiled the smile of a sated predator. "Why so worked-up all of a sudden?" He asked, noting the scowl that marred Shizuo's features. "Haven't you broken his arm in like four places yesterday? Which one of us has hurt him more, how do you think?" Izaya asked.

He got up and walked over. His hand twined itself in Aoba's hair.

"How old is he?" Shizuo asked.

"The same age as my sisters. He's pretty sweet, too."

"You've reminded me why I'd wanted to dispose of you for so many years."

Izaya laughed.

"What about making sure nothing ever happens to me again?"

"Cross the line. And I'll kill you myself."

Izaya stopped laughing.

\---

"Mikado-kun, can you play shogi?" Izaya asked from over a board set up ready for a game on his desk.

"Well... Just a little bit, I think." Mikado answered uncertainly.

"Let's play then."

"I don't think it's such a good idea, Orihara-san..." Mikado protested.

"I'll play with you, Iza-chan." Aoba spoke up from behind Izaya's back, draping his one working arm around his neck.

"No." Izaya shook his head. "You'll mess up the board again trying to move pieces with your left hand. And stop showing off with the fact that I fuck you." Izaya smirked. "Don't you have some dignity, Aoba-kun?"

Aoba laughed into his ear.

"Why do you think I should be ashamed all of a sudden? Since you consider yourself a God, isn't it an honor? Doesn't this make me Ganymede?"

"Uhm... Orihara-san, what's this other board for?" Mikado motioned towards another shogi board set up with a game stopped in the middle, standing on the desk a little bit to the side.

"That, Mikado-kun, is our plan."

Mikado stared at the board but it didn't make sense to him.

"There's one more piece lacking before it can get in motion, though. You know what that is?" Izaya reached into a box of chess pieces.

"The Queen?" Mikado guessed uncertainly.

"Right. This is probably the most powerful chess piece if used right." Izaya said, twirling the Queen in his fingers. "Shogi doesn't have it, though. But since we need it, it seems we'll need to make our own rules." Izaya put the Queen on the shogi board. "Sonohara Anri-chan, how much does she miss Kida-kun?"

"Anri has nothing to do with anything." Mikado protested instantly. "She's just a girl."

"When she's attacking you with that cursed katana, her eyes glowing red, that's certainly not what you think. To me, she seems to be some kind of a monster."

"Tsk, Iza-chan. Don't mention using that girl for anything. He will get angry."

"Shouldn't we at least ask her opinion, Mikado-kun?" Izaya asked. "Let's play." He declared and proceeded to remove a few pieces off the board.

"Whoa, that much of a handicap?" Aoba stared. "What do you think Mikado-senpai is? Some kind of an idiot?"

"Kuronuma-kun, that's all right." Mikado said softly, making his first move.

"I need to kidnap a person." Izaya said as if it was some kind of small talk. "Not here though, in Osaka. I don't think Blue Squares or Dollars would be up to the task and I'd rather avoid making my informants do this kind of work. That's why once we'll have the Queen and accumulate enough power, I'll try to offer a truce to Awakusu-kai. In other words, my resurrection is near."

Mikado bit his lip, realizing he'd made a mistake on the board.

"Ohh... Mikado-senpai, you're really not so good at this." Aoba sounded disappointed. "Resurrection, huh?" His smile widened. "Have you lost already, Mikado-senpai?"

"I'm sorry." Mikado apologized.

"You have nothing to worry about, Mikado-kun." Izaya spoke up. His hand caught Mikado's chin, forcing him to look straight into two pairs of eyes, one dark red, the other sky blue. "We'll take care of things for you." He said softly before pressing his lips to Mikado's.

\---

A lump formed in Mikado's throat.

Anri was looking so vulnerable facing them all on her own. It was the middle of the night, an empty rooftop. For some reason, she was still wearing her school uniform. It seemed all kinds of wrong for a schoolgirl to meet like that with a group of men.

A few random thugs from Blue Squares gathered close to the guard rail at the edge of the rooftop. Izaya was walking towards Anri. He was wearing normal clothes, long black coat billowing behind him. Shizuo was standing by with his hands in his pockets and a cigarette in his mouth. Aoba stayed by Mikado's side, his white coat draped over his shoulders.

"There's nothing to worry about, Mikado-senpai." He said so softly only Mikado could hear.

"It's been a while, Anri-chan." Izaya greeted Anri in a falsely cheerful voice.

Saika slid out of her wrist as an answer, her eyes turning red and starting to glow in the darkness.

"Don't come any closer." She warned him, extending the katana towards him. Her voice was loud and clear, unlike during the day when she was a stuttering bespectacled girl, the epitome of shyness.

"I won't." Izaya held his hands in front of him. "This isn't a trap. Your friends are here, too." He motioned towards Mikado and Aoba with a move of his head. "You know how Kida-kun died, right?"

"I don't want to think about that." She replied.

"Not thinking about that won't change anything." Izaya pointed out. "He's been murdered in a terrible way for no reason at all. We've decided to find out who's done it and make them pay." Izaya took one more step towards her despite her warning. "It was Mikado's decision for Blue Squares and Dollars to take this course of action. Don't you think, with your power, you should help your best friend and take part in this?"

"Even destroying whomever killed Kida-kun won't make him any less dead. I think you're messing with Mikado-kun's and Aoba-kun's heads." She said. "This isn't about Kida-kun at all. Rather, you want to use them for something."

"You're so cruel, Anri-chan. You think so poorly of me." Izaya sighed. "But I think that's because you don't want to admit you don't care." His eyes turned sharp. "It seems me and Mikado, we loved Kida-kun more than you ever did. "

"Kida-kun was... It's because of this gang stuff that he got hurt and died. If only he could lead a normal life... I don't want the same thing happening to Mikado-kun and Aoba-kun."

"Cut them into submission then, Mother. So nobody gets hurt ever again."

"No." She protested. "I won't listen to you. One more step and I'll cut you."

"Listen to Mikado then."

"Anri-chan, he's right." Mikado stepped forward. "The police... they have a video of Kida's beheadment. Can you imagine how terrible it is?"

Good show, Mikado, Izaya thought, but you hadn't seen that video yourself.

"He was our best friend." Mikado continued, his hands curling into fists at his sides. "And instead of protecting him with all we had, we let something like this happen to him. I can't live with the people who have done it still being around, laughing behind his back about how little he's meant to anyone. I want to show them how important Kida Masaomi really was. We've been talking about this before, Anri-chan."

"You're so awesome, senpai." Aoba whispered.

"You haven't asked for my help then, though. Because it is not your idea to ask me for it. Even if your goal is acceptable, you shouldn't listen to him." She pointed Izaya with her katana.

"What's wrong with using Orihara-san's help? Kida-kun was in love with him."

"If Kida-kun was in love with him, was it the same Kida-kun that was our friend?"

"Kida-kun was always Kida-kun, no matter what mistakes he made."

"Cutting me would give you some kind of insight into my soul, right?" Izaya spoke up. "Do you need to see if I really loved Masaomi? I'll let you cut me then." Izaya stretched out his hand towards her.

"I can't cut you." Anri said matter-of-factly. "Saika won't cut you as a cursed blade. It will just work like a regular katana."

"How come?"

"The curse recoils at the thought. It's not interested in a human being like him."

"Saika is just a cursed piece of metal. As much as I value its insight..." Aoba spoke up. "...it's up to you if you're our friend and trust our judgment or if you'd rather listen to a katana. Orihara-san is ready to give you his soul and you still don't believe him. Why would a girl like you hate someone so much, Anri-sempai?"

Aoba approached them. He caught Izaya's hand, lacing their fingers together.

"We will do what we have to do, with your help or without it." He continued. "But as your friends, we won't be able to forget how you weren't willing to trust us. Do you want to stay all alone again, Anri-sempai?" Aoba asked seriously.

Saika disappeared inside Anri's arm.

Orihara Izaya had already wrapped everyone she held dear around his little finger with as much efficiency as she, as a Saika wielder, could ever hope for.

\---

"She's avoiding us now. She's been skipping classes, too." Mikado said, twirling the spoon in a cup of melted ice cream. He didn't feel like eating it at all.

"You think she's been skipping classes because of you, right, Mikado-senpai?" Aoba asked, smiling mischievously. The plaster on his arm was covered in inscriptions and drawings made by various people at school. "You're so naive sometimes." He sighed.

Izaya was mutilating a piece of cake with a small fork, as per usual, without the slightest intention to eat it. Aoba had been close enough to him for long enough to realize he barely ate anything anyway.

"She's in the student council. I've heard she was working on organizing the prom." Aoba informed, stuffing himself with his own piece of cake cheerfully. "She must be busy with this right now."

"We have a prom at Raira?" Mikado asked.

"We do. Haven't your chat buddies informed you about it, Mikado-senpai? Well, maybe you should try chatting IRL then, for a change." Aoba said, his smile widening. "Also, it seems she's going this year too, as a student council member. One of us should probably go with her."

Mikado blushed.

"Will you ask her, Mikado-senpai? Or do you prefer Kanra-san here and can't stomach ditching her for another girl?"

"Don't be stupid, Kuronuma-kun." Mikado protested.

"Will you ask her then, or should I? It will be bothersome to go with a broken arm." Aoba sighed. "But it's better than if Anri-senpai would have to go alone. All these girls who bully her, they would have laughed at her forever after a disaster like that."

"I..." Mikado hesitated.

"You...?" Aoba asked expectantly.

"I'll ask her." Izaya spoke up. "It's been a while since I've last been at Raijin. And the Queen deserves to go with someone all these girls that bully her will be jealous about forever."

Aoba laughed so hard Mikado thought he was going to suffocate.

"No, seriously, they will." He said once he was able to.

\---

"Why have you dressed yourself up like that?" Shizuo asked, pointing to Izaya's attire with his cigarette.

Izaya was looking at himself in the large wall mirror, quite satisfied with what he was seeing. He was wearing an all black suit with a red tie and a long black coat with a fur trim. The twin rings were back on his index fingers.

"The meeting with the yakuza is late at night. Are you so self-conscious as to try out clothes before?" Shizuo asked with mild curiosity. "You look like a fucking yakuza yourself."

"Thanks for the compliment, Shizu-chan." Izaya took off the coat. "I have one more thing to do before that though. I've asked Sonohara Anri-chan out to a school dance." He announced with a predatory smile.

"I'd prefer it if you let troubled teenagers be and didn't use them for your shady purposes." Shizuo growled.

"And she said yes. Because a Saika-wielder or not, a girl needs to take care of her social standing. Poor little thing wants people to notice her even if she has nothing to show at all." Izaya snorted. "Teenagers are so pliable, it's quite fascinating. Don't look at me like that, Shizu-chan. I won't be fighting you now, you'd ruin my attire. You said you'd prefer it if I left them alone but have I really been so bad for them? When you're a pretty teenage girl who trusts random guys you can expect way worse things happening to you than myself. My so called followers... I've never fucked them, never sold them, never told them to go out onto the streets and bring me back some money. All I did was take away their free will. And since they were quite stupid in the first place..."

"Do you think I'm stupid too?" Shizuo asked, approaching him.

Izaya stared into the mirror, his red eyes flickering sideways to look at Shizuo's reflection that appeared behind his. He looked hot with his tousled blond hair and nothing but jeans and a tank top on. Izaya could feel his mouth get dry.

"You're not exactly that, Shizu-chan, but you don't listen to your reason at all." Izaya spoke up. "Not even your body does that. You just do whatever you have a whim to do."

"You wish you were an object of my whims, don't you?"

Izaya bit his lip to withhold a sigh that would have escaped him as Shizuo's arm wrapped around his midriff, applying just a little too much pressure for comfort.

"Look at us, Shizu-chan. We'd make such a cute couple." Izaya said, tilting his head sideways. "I have to go though." He disentangled himself from Shizuo's hold, took the coat and headed towards the door. "I'll see you in the morning. From now on you can tell people I'm still alive, too."

The door closed behind Izaya. The smell of his cologne wafted in the air for a while after he'd left.

\---

Aoba counted the banknotes with his left hand before getting up to leave the shogi parlor.

"You shouldn't count that kind of money out in the open like that, kid."

"You shouldn't worry about me." Aoba replied with a smile. "This has been a good night. See you sometime."

The broken right arm didn't stop Aoba from spending time gambling at shogi parlors. He was underage but he was also so good and so willing to put large sums of money on the table the ways to get in had always presented themselves.

He kept his shogi ability a secret from Izaya, like many other things, though he wasn't sure if the notorious informant didn't know about it somehow anyway and likewise didn't show that he knew. Aoba had heard a thing or two about Izaya himself in the parlors. He was described as average at best but he rarely lost. Instead of concentrating on playing, it seemed he preoccupied himself with finding opponents who were weak enough for him to beat. That was so typical of him it made Aoba smile knowingly.

They'd never played a game against each other. Aoba pretended his left hand wasn't coordinated well enough for that. He preferred Izaya to go on underestimating him in every way possible. It made him slightly more careless and willing to show more of his cards than he should. So far, he hadn't had anything particularly special to show though.

The way he was so preoccupied with humans, Aoba thought it was really funny. Whatever he meant by setting up boards with pawns that represented people, he didn't treat humans like pawns at all. He pried inside them instead of treating them as entities making up systems, exchanging data and forming sets. Aoba had no particular interest in the internal make-up of people like that himself. He figured it was only going to help him on his way to winning more and more games of different flavors.

"Kururi-chan?" He spoke up into his phone in a cheerful voice. "Well, it doesn't matter all that much who I am... Yes, we used to be in the same class together... It's the middle of the night in Tokyo..." He said, glancing up at the starless sky. "Snow? No, not at all... Your brother told me to call you... No, seriously, he's alive. He needed to hide for a bit... How should I know why he hasn't told you. Aren't you his little sister?... We're working together now... We've also kissed so tell Mairu-chan I've scored all of you now... I bet she'll be thrilled... Yeah, bye."

"Kuronuma." An older boy in a dark blue jacket started walking by his side.

Aoba nodded in acknowledgment before handing him an envelope thick with banknotes and proceeding to dial another number.

"Hi, Mikado-senpai! I'll be heading to the meeting I guess." He said into the phone. "No, stay home. We don't know what will happen... Well, that too... I don't think Izaya has done anything fishy. He can't really afford to turn his back on us now but the yakuza itself isn't exactly friendly people... Of course we can all die, that's why I need you to stay home now, as the leader of Blue Squares..." Aoba's voice was still cheerful. It was starting to creep Mikado out on the other end of the line. "Who knows what they could have come up with... I don't trust Izaya's judgment, he was nearly killed once already after all... There are no situations where nothing can backfire, Mikado-senpai, even if you think you control everything, there's always the potential for disaster. Your pen has taught me that, actually." Aoba admitted in a carefree manner. "Also, in case we'll never talk to each other again, I'd like to tell you I think you're a very special kind of person, Mikado-senpai. Deep down you're just like me or Izaya, but nobody can tell. That's awesome." Aoba hung up before Mikado could start protesting.

He continued walking down the street, smiling to himself. Raira looked different at night, he thought while approaching, even when all the lights inside were on because of the prom. The guests were just leaving. Aoba stopped by the school gate and observed them. He waved to Anri as she made her way past the gate but didn't bother her with asking where Izaya went. Excited murmurs followed her as she walked by. The rumors... the rumors were going to be delicious. Aoba wondered if he should make it known Izaya was his boyfriend.

"Hi, Iza-chan." He felt Izaya's presence behind him without turning around. "Was it fun?" He asked, motioning to the school building with his head.

"Better than I expected."

Aoba bet Izaya had spent the whole night basking in the attention he'd surely provoked.

He turned around and smiled at him. His gaze turned appreciative as he surveyed Izaya's figure in the black suit, the coat draped over his shoulders. Izaya was a good-looking man, especially when his scars and jutting out bones weren't on display.

He stood on his toes to kiss him. Izaya flinched away.

"Are you afraid?" Aoba asked softly. All the students and guests had already left and they stayed alone by the school gate.

Of course, there were Blue Squares hiding around and Heiwajima Shizuo was approaching them in relaxed strides. But that wasn't going to be enough to guarantee anyone's safety.

"Are you?" Izaya asked, attempting to shake Aoba's hand off his. Aoba didn't let go. He could feel the slight dampness of this hand and the tremors going through. Izaya's tough front was especially fragile on that night. Aoba thought it was endearing.

"Actually, I'm pretty thrilled." He replied with an unsettling smile.

Shizuo reached them right at the moment when a black Toyota Century with blood red curtains in its side windows pulled up in front of them. 

Izaya's hand squeezed his instinctively.


End file.
